NEWS
AND FEATURES ON THE SOLIDARITY 2000 CAMPAIGN IN COPENHAGEN
Uganda
Northern Farmers Recovering From The War
By Katy Salmon
KOBOKO, NORTHERN UGANDA Jun 2 (IPS) - For almost a decade, deer and antelope roamed freely amongst the broken ruins and abandoned fields of Koboko in northern Uganda.
"The area was like a game park," recalls one local resident, Isaac Todoko. In 1980, the entire population fled northwards to Sudan when President Milton Obote returned to power.
He unleashed a bloody revenge on the home district of his rival, the notorious Idi Amin, who had ousted him in 1971.
"Human beings were hunted like animals and their homes set ablaze," Todoko recounts. They sought sanctuary in the bush, first in Sudan and later, when war forced them to move on again, in Zaire.
Today, burnt out tanks by the roadside are reminders of President Yoweri Museveni's 1986 victory which finally restored peace. Neat piles of red bricks scattered around town are evidence of continuing reconstruction efforts.
The north is the poorest part of Uganda. It is here that the government has most work to do if it is to eradicate absolute poverty - one of the 10 Social Summit commitments - by its target date of 2017. Most people are subsistence farmers.
A 1996 survey found that 25 percent of the country's farmers produce only for their own consumption and another 70 percent sell less than 20 percent of their output.
Less than 10 percent have access to oxen for ploughing, chemical fertilisers or loans. In 1997, the government launched the Poverty Eradication Action Plan (PEAP) prioritising primary education and health care, rural feeder roads, agricultural extension work, rural water supplies and sanitation.
A second PEAP will be launched this year. The poverty of the north is rooted in history. Under the colonialists, the fertile south was favoured with the introduction of cash crops and better education.
The north was seen as a source of migrant labour and recruitment for the army. Today, many northerners complain they are being neglected once again - Museveni draws most of his support from the south.
Peace is a vital precondition for the eradication of poverty. The north has long been plagued by war, rebels and insecurity. In the north-eastern districts of Gulu and Kitgum, 75 per cent of the population, around 250,000 people, live in displaced people's camps for protection against the Lord's Resistance Army.
The rebels abduct children and force them to become soldiers. Fields lie fallow and there is little education for the pot-bellied kids in the camps who survive on aid agency rations.
It is a vicious cycle. Faced with poverty, frustrated youths make easy recruits for rebels who offer them a wage and a better life - via the barrel of the gun.
"They say they cannot repair the road because of insecurity. But all those things lacking create rebel activity. People are expressing their disgust. Why do they jump into the bush? Because they are not satisfied," explains one local resident.
Neighbouring Arua now enjoys peace but the legacy of insecurity will be felt for a generation. In 1997, a government amnesty brought an end to the decade-old insurgency of the West Nile Bank Front rebels.
But those who lost their chance for education whilst on the run will never recover it.
The area's reputation for violence lives on. One businessman in Koboko complains: "Trying to recruit skilled people to come here is a huge problem. People in Kampala (the capital) think you're working in a war zone."
Its remote location is central to the poverty of the north. Good roads are vital for access to markets and information. Most of the 500km route from Kampala to Koboko is not paved and the journey takes a laborious 11 hours.
High transport costs mean profits from selling produce in Kampala are meagre. "Transport is what kills everything here," says the businessman. Koboko's nearest government hospital is 24 miles away.
"When our women come into labour, they lose a lot of lives because there is no hospital," says 54-year-old farmer Simeon Ayume. Improvement of feeder roads was a priority of the 1997 PEAP and maintenance expenditure tripled.
The next section of the road to Koboko is due to start being paved in July. Despite the poor standards of health care, Ayume appreciates the recent introduction of dispensaries by his local MP.
"He is trying to assist our people," he nods. For many northerners, the government's greatest achievement is in ending the war. "Museveni came with a lot of peace," says Todoko.
"If you compare it to ten years ago, when they came back from exile, poverty is reduced and Koboko has developed a lot," says Tine Schmidt of MS. Peace has given people the opportunity to progress. "Things are all right. We are trying to solve it ourselves," says Ayume, who in 1992 became one of the founder members of Tukaliri Multipurpose Association (TMA), funded by MS.
TMA encourages members to increase productivity by consolidating their fields into blocks. It organises workshops to teach better farming methods and gives out seed loans at a reduced cost. New crops, like coffee, are also being introduced to boost household incomes.
However, there are some things which only government can do. "Our biggest problem is we don't have power. There are no industries in the areas. If you want to reduce poverty you need employment," says Ayume.
There has been no electricity in Koboko since Amin removed the generator in the 1970s. Museveni promised to install a hydroelectric dam but has not done so.
Although the north produces the best tobacco in Uganda, the leaves are carted away to British American Tobacco's factory in the south. Meanwhile, the government is finalising its Plan for the Modernisation of Agriculture.
The priorities are research and technology development, advisory services, education for agriculture and improved access to finance and markets. But this carefully thought out plan cannot touch on Ayume's most desperate need - rain.
His crops are withering in the fields and he fears a second year of drought. With bean prices up 300 per cent in the last three months, some are already going hungry.